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We’ve waved farewell to our Year 10’s, 11’s and 12’s this month. Permanently in the case of Year 12’s. Now’s the time to consider how your social media profile can count when searching for a job. A digital footprint of which you can be proud, is one quite important aspect of your global citizenship – one of our 6 C’s of education in the 21st Century.

These snapshots remind us to consider how a prospective employer will screen you online before deciding to hire you. Check out the full infographic on globalcitizen.org Clicking on the link takes you to the most common mistakes to make online and how to correct them.

Altruism in the form of donating or volunteering is obviously highly valued by everyone in our community – not just employers.

Colouring has become a relaxing pastime for adults. El’Lanna, the senior student pictured, is certainly taking time out in the library to clear her mind. [Photo by Jayne Johnson] signs are special because October is Breast Cancer awareness month. Support kits, with colouring in templates and information can be obtained from the BCAN website. We have a number of YA novels that deal with grief and loss – two that have characters affected by breast cancer are:

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness has already been released as a film in Spain. We eagerly await the film’s release in Australia with Sigourney Weaver and Liam Neeson. Our library holds both print & eBook editions.

Our Wheeler’s eBook tool has changed. We are now using ePlatform. Watch our promo.

To borrow eBooks you need an Online eBook Password. Your MIS ID is your username/login. Don’t know your eBook password? Ask Library Staff to assist you, then follow the steps below. Occasionally, you will be sent a reminder of your username and password.

Finding your eBook through your Phone App is the fastest and easiest way. Open Eplatform App after installing it – see Step 3 below. Ensure that you choose our library from the list and are connected to our special school eBook Platform: https://smithfieldshs.wheelers.co/Browse or search for an eBook to borrow.

Finding your eBook through our Online Catalogue

1. Another way is to browse all eBooks through our resource catalogue online. Change the search field from “Subject” search to “eBooks” in the drop down menu. Over 1,000 eBooks will be listed. Some of the classics are in the public domain so they should not expire in 2 weeks but remain on your device.

2. Alternatively, search by title, author or subject as you would any other resource and choose to borrow/read if it happens to be an eBook.

Downloading your eBook

3. For your very first download, you may need to download the software you will need to open the eBook. Our laptops should already have an ePub reader installed. For other devices, choose from the software below.

b. Most eReaders already have EPUB compatible software [unfortunately these eBooks are incompatible with Amazon Kindle]

4. Open the Online Library Catalogue on your selected device.(smithfieldshs.cmeweb.libcode.com.au)

5. Select your eBook and click on the green “Download eBook” button (right hand side). This will then open to the book title in the Smithfield High School Wheelers Platform.

6. Click on “Login to download this title” and login using your MID ID and password given to you by the school library staff (ask us if you forget. Your device should remember the password after the first time.

7. Click on the “READ” link and the eBook will launch on your phone using the ePlatform App. Every time you open your book on your mobile device, it will remember your place.

NOTE: the eBook will disappear from your device after 2 weeks. If your loan expires, re-borrow the title immediately provided someone else has not reserved it.

This year, the Noreen Wilcox Award went to our own HOD Teaching & Learning, Ms Edita Sliskovic. The Australian College of Educators’ website states: “Noreen’s efforts to enhance the opportunities for students through the refinement of teaching practice were a constant focus of Noreen’s life. An exemplary model, Noreen demanded and achieved a high standard from those around her.” Remind you of anyone? That’s why we’re very proud of Ms Sliskovic – because these same descriptors apply to her own character, teaching and mentoring practices. I’m sure all her past Philosophy and History students agree.

End of Year Stocktake

Checking in all school resources is important for many reasons. Of course we want to ensure that we have enough textbooks and library books for everyone in 2016. But we also need to sight resources so that we can repair them, purchase additional copies if necessary and plan for the coming year. Lastly, we need to reconcile our holdings with our database so that we are not wasting time looking for resources, which cannot be found. We are asking for the cooperation of students and parents in returning any and all school resources to the Library and Textbook promptly. Our emails and messages have been more urgent than ever, simply because with the inclusion of Yr 7, we have hundreds of extra students to supply with resources in 2016.

All Year 12 resources were due to be handed back Nov 16. Year 11’s and 10’s have until Nov 23rd and Yrs 7-9 can have resources until Dec 4, at the very latest. Your cooperation in returning textbooks and library books, will save labour both in the library and the office. Please return your loans BEFORE we spend time sending bills.

Also from the Global Digital Citizen website is another interesting list taken originally from an article by Terry Heick. What are the 26 Questions that every student should be able to answer at the beginning of the year? You won’t necessarily be able to respond to all of them off the top of your head, but learning and collaborating to learn will be more directed if you can answer a selection of these questions. Start with these:

Some of our most popular titles have been made into films. Mr Green seems to be the likely choice of author if one wishes to read the book before seeing the film. Although, something is generally lost in translation – don’t you think?

This week, we displayed The Dressmaker, screening now at Cairns cinemas and starring Kate Winslet, Liam Hemsworth, Hugo Weaving and a whole cast of well-known Australian actors. Upon purchasing a new copy complete with a new “movie” cover, Tilly seemed to be carrying Mrs Robins’ first knee operated Singer Sewing Machines. The antique was still in her loft – so that became the inspiration for the display. We added a dance frock made by Vera Macfarlane in 1929 and Mrs Colgrave’s hat.

New Fiction

Ms Mesner quite enjoyed one of our latest acquisitions. She wrote, “Readers will laugh out loud and sympathise with a heart wrenching story as they enjoy Robin Benway’s, Emmy and Oliver.” Read more of Ms Mesner’s impressions in her ReadPlus book review.

Infowhelming Internet Stats

Since the mid 90’s the internet, and what we now term the nosphere, in general, has grown beyond what could be described as exponential. Andrew Churches, an IT advisory teacher from New Zealand, had these examples at his fingertips when defining “infowhelm” at his recent seminar in Cairns:

4,230yrs of video is uploaded to youtube each year

3,000,000,000 youtube are viewed per day

300,000,000 photos are uploaded to Instagram each day

there are 1.2million ‘apple approved’ apps

500,000 people currently hold ‘app jobs’

$5,000,000,000 in revenue made selling the add-ons to just one social media game

there are now more mobiles on earth than people

90% of all information was created in the last 2 yrs

if we attempted to print out the internet, it would span from here to Pluto 13 times

Add a second monitor to your computer. Stretch your desktop for extra space and visibility. We are selling used computer monitors (pictured near Mr Lever below) for only $20 for 45cm and $10 for 38cm. Most come with power cord and VGA cable. Try before you buy? At these prices they make very cheap stand-by monitor or desktop extension. All proceeds go back into school IT facilities. Call us to learn more or call in to the library to select a monitor. Ph 40584349

Inspirational Messages

Our library is looking very inspirational with the addition of some vinyl signs – reminders of our school-wide habits of mind, explicit teaching and thinking strategies. Mr Lever and Ms Cowell were each caught in the frame.

Featured Article

The book is not dead. Not while researchers are proving more and more that we comprehend printed text better than digital text. Not while Time magazine is writing interesting reports like: “Reading Literature Makes Us Smarter and Nicer”. Sub-titled, “Deep reading is vigorous exercise from the brain and increases our real-life capacity for empathy” the article by Annie Murphy Paul begins:-

“Raymond Mar, a psychologist at York University in Canada, and Keith Oatley, a professor emeritus of cognitive psychology at the University of Toronto, reported in studies published in 2006 and 2009 that individuals who often read fiction appear to be better able to understand other people, empathize with them and view the world from their perspective. This link persisted even after the researchers factored in the possibility that more empathetic individuals might choose to read more novels. A2010 study by Mar found a similar result in young children: the more stories they had read to them, the keener their “theory of mind,” or mental model of other people’s intentions.”Read more…

NB Students can click on the Time Magazine link during a subject search of our online catalogue to read Time Magazine online via the school subscription.

Featured Book

What better way to develop empathy than through reading literature that focuses on little known historical facts. Works of ‘faction’ can provide alternate or complementary views of history. Read a review of one of our latest novel purchases suitable for all year levels, “Making Bombs for Hitler” by Marsha Skrypuch.

We waited our turn, but eventually Paddy’s article about our super busy August 2015 hit the Cairns Post. We don’t get to showcase our Science Week and Book Week displays in the local newspaper every year. Both national networks (National Science Week & Children’s Book Council chose the theme of the International Year for their inspiration – The International Year of Light. Click on the title of the article to zoom in to read the article.

Unfortunately, a lovely photo of two of our three volunteers helping Mrs Robins to make an impression with eye-catching replicas of the shortlisted Book Week titles, didn’t make the newspaper. Pictured finishing off their creations are – Tenielle Burdin and Brooke Ryan.

August 14-21st was National Science Week around Australia. Our Science department’s display entitled “Ignite your Imagination” fitting the International Year of Light theme, was stunning. Ms Field and Ms Coe erected a darkroom in the middle of the library and their various apparatus generated rainbows and light shows to delight us and ignite our appreciation of physics. A slide show, competition and videos added educational explanations to the hands-on focus.

The rules have changed and EQ now enable us to use our MIS ID login to download our eBooks. You will still need the short four character password generated by the library computer but this makes reading eBooks on our mobile phones and computers much easier. For instance, Bill Brown’s login is bbrow4 and his eBook password is b52j. See the library staff if you have forgotten your short eBook password or if you need help with downloading BlueFire Reader to your phone/computer. All details about how to borrow eBooks can be found in the eBooks tab on our our online catalogue. If more students and staff are downloading these books to read on their portable devices, we will purchase more items. At the moment we have about 250 eBooks.

Mrs Robins ~ Teacher Librarian

Trinity Bay Writer’s Festival Reportby Logan Bradshaw 10H

On July 30th & 31st I was fortunate enough to attend a Writers’ Workshop at Trinity Bay High School.

It was very interesting and informative, providing plenty of useful information such as how to correctly structure a story and how to bring your reader into your mind, your world; like through things they understand or relate to (characters, events, landscape etc.).

Talks were given by professional writers such as Melaina Faranda, Richard Harland and Saffron Bryant.

I found them to be very wise with a great knowledge about what they do and the process with which they do it.

I learnt many techniques to get the story out there and how to make it come across in a clear genre (medieval, alternate timelines, present events or real past events); also what makes a story better, mainly regarding the world of your story or plot.

I found it to be of a great benefit and it encouraged me to keep my imagination and writing alive.

Between the 21st of August and the 28th of August, Smithfield State High School on O’Brien road is hosting a book week display to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of Childrens’ Book Council Book Week. With a theme of “Books light up Our world”, Smithfield State High seniors Brooke Ryan, Tenielle Burdin and Sky Ashworth worked hard to paint giant replicas of the si young adult books that were shortlisted in the “Younger Reader” category earlier this year. “The Protected” by Claire Zorn is centre stage because it was selected as Book of the Year. Honour books were “Nona & Me” by Clare Atkins and “Intruder”by Christine Bongers.

The Library is also holding competitions with book vouchers valued at twenty dollars each for lucky entrants in the Older Reader Quiz or for simply downloading an Ebook to our mobile phones.

Coincidently, Science week and the theme of light were so popular the week before for National Science Week August 14 – 21, it will run for two weeks by popular demand. In addition to the light spectrum apparatus, a plasma ball displays electrical energy conducting through our fingertips. “We’ve put the display together to inspire students to get excited about science, particularly physics.” said Ms Holly Field in response to questions about the Science week display put together by science staff. Whether it be for the Science displays or for the books, Smithfield students are sure to love the electrifying Smithfield High School Library.